JMU's quality earns U.S. News recognition

James Madison University maintained its ranking as the No. 2 public regional university in the South in U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 edition of Best Colleges.

Overall JMU ranks sixth among public and private regional universities in the South in the latest rankings. Numbers one through five are Elon University in North Carolina, Rollins College in Florida, Samford University in Alabama, The Citadel in South Carolina and Stetson University in Florida.

The news magazine’s annual Best Colleges rankings placed JMU third among public and private regional universities in the South that exhibit “A Strong Commitment to Teaching.” Both the No. 1 and No. 2 universities in the category – Elon University and Belmont University in Tennessee, respectively – are private schools. Inclusion on the ranking is based on the responses of experts who answered – in spring 2013 – the annual Best Colleges peer assessment survey for the rankings. Institutions are measured against their peers only, with the categories U.S. News uses for the Best Colleges rankings.

JMU also fared well in unranked listings calculated by U.S. News & World Report. JMU was included in the “A Focus on Student Success: Service Learning” and “A-Plus Schools for B Students” lists. The student learning category refers to the required or for-credit volunteer work in the community that is part of instructional programs.

For inclusion on the latter list, schools had to admit “a meaningful proportion of applicants whose test scores and class standing put them in non-‘A’ territory,” according to U.S. News editors.

The full rankings are available at http://www.usnews.com/colleges.

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 Sept. 10, 2013